4/24 ARE & Prometric Update - Prometric Announces Continued Closures Through May 31

Due to ongoing concerns over safe delivery of examinations, Prometric has decided to keep all test centers in North America closed until May 31, 2020. NCARB is aware you may have already received this information from Prometric, and we apologize for any confusion that may have added to your stress during this already difficult time. We know delaying your testing progress is discouraging, and we are looking into options to allow more flexibility.

Prometric Closure and Reopening

Prometric is continuing to monitor the Coronavirus outbreak to determine when they will reopen test centers across the globe.

When Prometric reopens a center, it will operate at 50 percent capacity to maintain social distancing for those who are testing.

If a reopened test center is booked beyond the 50 percent capacity limit, Prometric will randomly select candidates to reschedule in order to ensure a safe testing environment.

Webinar

We know you have questions, and we’re here to help. Next Thursday at 2 p.m. ET, we’ll be hosting a live webinar with our examination experts, where you can learn more about the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on the ARE. Be on the lookout for a link to the webinar, coming soon!

Rescheduling

Prometric has begun canceling appointments.

Once canceled, your ability to reschedule this appointment will be delayed until Friday, May 1.

Your eligibility for the scheduled division will be reset, and NCARB will apply a seat credit to your account allowing you to reschedule this or any other future division at no cost.

We recommended you reschedule any appointments for fall or early winter to avoid further disruption.

All rescheduling fees have been waived until further notice.

You will not be able to reschedule an exam appointment until your eligibilities have been reset by NCARB. Purchasing an additional seat credit will not allow you to reschedule a canceled appointment sooner.

Comments

Prometric already canceled my exam before this notice came out, so I didn't have time to reschedule on my own. Does this mean i can't reschedule until the end of May? Also when should i expect the seat credit to show up on my record?

We all know things are evolving quickly and unfortunately some aspects that impact NCARB and you directly are out of our control. As mentioned above, Prometric has made the decision to keep all North American test centers closed to non-essential candidates as identified by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) through May 31. Admittedly, the timing of their actions and quickly changing information provided in messaging is understandably frustrating. We at NCARB will continue to relay as much up to date information as possible when it becomes available to us.

Prometric began canceling May appointments late yesterday and will be notifying NCARB today which candidates have been impacted. NCARB will create a new eligibility for your cancelled exam and provide you a seat credit allowing you to reschedule at no additional cost. NCARB will have all the eligibilities created and seat credits added no later than Friday, May 1, 2020.

I was scheduled for PA at the end of May here in Seattle, and was cancelled. When I tried to reschedule with Prometrics they only go out 4 months - and every single appointment in WA, OR, ID, MT and WY are taken through July - so rescheduling is not possible - at all.

@NickatNCARB, can you please explain the logic of Prometric both cutting their testing capacity 50% AND not extending the schedule out as far as needed to ensure that we can schedule something -- anything at all?

I understand the uncertainty of the pandemic, however given that Prometic is the service provider hired by NCARB, I would expect to see some lengthening of schedules or accommodation to those of us who were on the schedule already. I have purchased two seats from NCARB, so $470 out of my pocket + $80 rescheduling fee - and cannot secure an appointment or have an actual human respond to my requests.

Thanks for your post. Prometric's decision on when and how to open test centers is out of our control at NCARB. This is a decision solely made by Prometric, not NCARB. Also, the decision to reduce capacity to 50% was made by Prometric to maintain social distancing for those who are testing. We know delaying your testing progress is discouraging, and we are looking into options to allow more flexibility.

As I mentioned above, we will continue to relay as much up to date information as possible when it becomes available to us.

Would it be possible to swap exams with already scheduled seats? I had a PA appointment on May 4 which was canceled. Would it be possible to swap my PPD exam appointment already schedule later in June with my canceled PA exam instead?

Thanks for posting this information! We are still in the process of resetting all eligibilities, so that might be impacting your ability to reschedule. Eligibilities should be reset by Friday, May 1st. My recommendation is to check back when the process is complete. You will not be required to enter the identified information above to schedule your exam.

If the message continues to appear on Friday, reach out to NCARB Customer Service immediately for assistance.

Nick, thank you for your efforts and I realize this is a difficult situation. I just wanted to add to Katherine's situation, after being unable to log in to the Exams part of my record yesterday, today I get a message saying 'Pending Eligibility Approval' for my canceled exam. Once it is fixed, should we see an option to schedule?

Yes, we are currently working on creating new eligibilities for all canceled exams. After this process is completed, the message will disappear and you will be able to schedule your exam. Everything should be completed by Friday.

Nick NCARB Hi Nick, I had the same issue with folks above. My exam scheduled on May 16th has been canceled on April 23 before the notice came out. And until today, my status still showing "pending eligibility approval" and is not able to re-schedule yet. Per the conversation above, it should be reset by May 1st. Please let me know when should I expect the seat credit to show up on my record? My Ncarb number is 840227. Thank you.

Back in April NCARB hosted a webinar about the status of everything and the rescheduled exams. It was said that those who had exams in June would have received their email about the cancellations already. I didn't receive any emails, and my test had still shown as scheduled for June 13th. Tonight, I checked my email and found an email from Prometric saying my appointment has been cancelled.. Is there a reason for this next wave of cancellations, is this an error?

My NCARB record is also strange because one of my 3 passed exams shows no added rolling clock time to it. I passed it on November 16, 2019, and it shows it will expire on November 16, 2024. It is my latest passed exam and therefore should not be the first one to expire?

I'm not sure if something is weird with the system tonight, or why my appointment was cancelled and also why if it isn't a mistake I don't have a credited seat for rescheduling.

Same issue with me. Another one of my appointments in June has been canceled by Prometric. I have other appoinments in August as well. Is there any way to know when we reschedule that it won't be reschedule by Prometric? This is becoming a bit frustrating in terms coordinating exam preparation. Please advise.

My appointment for June 1st was cancelled yesterday. When can I expect my seat credit back so I can reschedule my exam? Also very frustrated because of the short notice..I bought a mask that I could comfortably wear for 5 hours specifically for this exam and now will probably not need it since there are no available appointments until September.

I agree with you Jordan an Meaghan. I bought a mask and have rescheduled these exams 4 times now. I know there's nothing they can do about the test centers closure, but more forewarning would be helpful. Just has been a very frustrating Spring.

Same here too. My June 6th exam is now cancelled but no seat credit. I am not going to buy another seat to see when I can schedule it again. When is the expected time we should get the seat credit for Prometric seat cancellations?

I just want to help clarify what is happening with your exam appointments and Prometric. As mentioned in the message above, Prometric is planning to reopen North American test centers on June 1st, where permitted within regional regulations. Your exams were canceled because your scheduled test center will not be reopening to ARE candidates on June 1st due to these regional regulations. NCARB has no control of this decision which is made by Prometric. They are maintaining an updated site openings list on their webpage which is located here - https://www.prometric.com/site-openings. I recommend referencing this list prior to rescheduling any canceled exam.

We understand that this is frustrating and will continue to communicate updates as we receive them from Prometric. If you had an exam canceled, we will be resetting your testing eligibility and granting you a seat credit as soon as possible.

Prometric is currently showing ZERO testing centers in the State of Washington. This is in Chrome, Firefox and across two different platforms (Mac and Windows). If anyone in WA reading this sees otherwise, please advise.

I just made an appt in Portland OR for PDD -- and will have to endure six hours of driving because of this.

PROMETRIC JUST CANCELLED MY JUNE 3RD EXAM TODAY! 4 DAYS NOTICE. THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE. I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO ANGRY ABOUT ANYTHING IN MY LIFE. The woman at the testing center said its because the exam is not on prometric's "essential exam list." Why is it so hard for them to tell us this before we have spent out entire lives studying for these things??? If I can't take it then stop letting me sign up for it! and why is this information so hard to find? they said centers were reopening may 31st and that's all the information that was made really public. This is so frustrating.

My exam was cancelled in Brookfield, Wisconsin where there is no regulation preventing them from reopening. I’ve reached out to Prometric but the exam center seems to be closed even though their opening list says it’s open for essential testing. There’s no indication on the list when exam centers will open fo non essential exams. Can’t even leave a message at my testing center because their voicemail is full. I sent an email and haven’t gotten a response back yet. It’s anyone’s guess when they’ll reopen. Extremely frustrating, Prometric hasn’t handled this very well.